C1 Return to the Mortal Realm

On a midsummer night, the wind howled and lightning streaked across the sky. Despite the forecast promising clear weather, the skies suddenly turned without warning. The usually bustling night market had long since emptied, with everyone seeking shelter indoors from the storm.

In a high-end residential complex in Zrikta City, within the living room of Room 1102 on the 11th floor, a five-year-old girl with features as delicate as a porcelain doll watched the lightning outside. Her large, luminous eyes betrayed not a hint of fear.

"Auntie says that when it thunders, it's the gods clashing," she said.

"Gods, please come out and help Tuantuan find her mommy and daddy," the little girl whispered, eyes closed and palms pressed together, earnestly making her wish.

In that instant, a unique purple lightning bolt split the night sky in two. Illuminated by the lightning, a figure materialized out of nowhere and plummeted toward the earth.

With a thunderous crash, the figure landed on a desolate mountain in the western outskirts of Zrikta. The impact shattered the mountain peak, and the surrounding trees were decimated by the explosive shockwave. Stones scattered in all directions, but the late hour and the thunder muffled any notice of this extraordinary event.

"The Earth of the Mortal Realm!" the figure exclaimed. "I, Yu Haoran, have finally returned."

Climbing out from the rubble, the figure stood unsteadily, his clothes in tatters, his complexion ghostly pale.

"Breaking through the dimensional barrier is no easy feat," he murmured, his voice barely a whisper, his movements sapping what little energy he had left.

"Even with the might of the God-King, my godhead has been utterly destroyed. If not for my Divine Body, forged in unison with the cosmos, and the protection of my Divine Artifact, survival would have been impossible."

Yu Haoran sat among the rocks, his divine sense sweeping the area, a look of melancholy on his face. His godhead lay in ruins, his divine power dissipated. The once magnificent robe he wore was now mere rags, and his once invincible Divine Body bore the scars of spatial turbulence.

Yet, he had made it back.

"It's been three hundred years," he reflected. "Three centuries ago, I was the outcast of the Lee family in Zrikta, scorned by all."

"By a twist of fate, I fell off a cliff and entered the Divine World. Like activating a golden touch, I rose to power in a mere three hundred years, reigning supreme in the Divine World and reaching its zenith."

Yu Haoran sat atop the mountain, his gaze sweeping over the distant lights, a profound sense of melancholy washing over him.

Leaves return to their roots.

Despite being revered as the God-King in the Divine World, Yu Haoran's heart ached to return to Earth every single day.

His obsession was unquenchable.

At last, he mustered the entire might of the Divine World to shatter the dimensional barrier.

But his return was not to seek retribution from the Lee family; it was for two people.

"Three hundred years have passed. You and our child have likely turned to dust."

"Even if you've undergone a hundred reincarnations, and even if I cultivate for another three hundred years, once my divine power is restored, I will pull you from the Six Paths of Reincarnation to share an eternal life with you!"

Yu Haoran slowly closed his eyes, and upon reopening them, found that, devoid of any divine power, his injuries had fully healed.

The resilience of a God-King's body was terrifying; without divine power, it still possessed an extraordinary ability to self-heal.

Yu Haoran descended from the mountain peak with incredible speed.

Before long, he arrived at the deserted urban area and approached the entrance of the neighborhood where his home was located.

The sight before him left Yu Haoran momentarily bewildered.

Three hundred years had passed, yet the changes in Zrikta were minimal, almost identical to how it was before he had journeyed to the Divine World.

Even the sign of the beef soup shop near the neighborhood entrance remained unchanged.

No, that couldn't be right.

Three centuries should have left their mark on everything. Could it be that time flowed differently in the Divine World compared to the Mortal Realm?

A spark of realization flickered in Yu Haoran's eyes.

He hurried towards his home.

Stepping into the elevator, he saw the date on the LCD screen: June 28, 2019. Yu Haoran was utterly astounded.

He vividly remembered that on May 3, 2016, he had plunged into a deep ravine while taking a photo during a trip with his wife and one-year-old daughter, which led him to the Divine World of the Radiant Empyrean and began his journey of divine cultivation.

Over three centuries, Yu Haoran had endured countless trials and ultimately achieved the Sovereign Divine Body, commanding awe throughout the entire Divine World.

To ascend to the rank of Supreme God-King.

Yet upon returning to Earth in the Mortal Realm, only three short years had passed.

Could it be that time flowed differently at each level of the Radiant Empyrean?

The Divine World sat atop the Radiant Empyrean, while the Mortal Realm lay at its base, with time differing by a factor of a hundred.

Yu Haoran quickly grasped the essence of this mystery.

But at this moment, he had no desire to speculate further; only three years had passed, so they must still be alive.

Yu Haoran was consumed by a single thought: to see them again.

This fixation had driven him to endure three hundred years of rigorous cultivation in the Divine World.

It was the same fixation that led him to risk the shattering of his soul, to tear through the dimensional barrier and return to Earth.

He had thought it would take another three hundred years of arduous cultivation, once his divine power was sufficiently restored, to defy fate and resurrect his wife and daughter.

But suddenly, Yu Haoran could wait no longer.

He burst from the elevator, transforming into a streak of light as he soared up the stairs to his home on the 11th floor.

Standing before the door, Yu Haoran inhaled deeply and rang the doorbell.

"Who is it?" A woman's voice called from within.

"It's Ning Yulu's voice!" Yu Haoran's heart surged with excitement.

Ning Yulu was his wife's distant cousin, whom they had asked to help as a nanny during her pregnancy. If Ning Yulu was still there, it meant that the two loves of Yu Haoran's life, for whom he had returned to Earth at all costs, were indeed still here.

"Ning Yulu, open the door, it's me, Yu Haoran..." he called out, unable to contain himself.

*Click!*

The security door swung open, revealing a woman in her thirties, her face etched with incredulous shock.

"Yu Haoran..."

"You... you're alive?"

"You've finally come back! Where have you been these last three years?"

Recognizing Yu Haoran, Ning Yulu's shock gave way to realization. She eyed his worn attire, her excitement tinged with a hint of reproach.

"It's a complicated tale."

Yu Haoran's expression was tinged with sorrow. "Where are Lee Wen and Tuantuan?"

"Miss, she hasn't seen your body and believes you're still alive. She's been searching for you for two years," Ning Yulu said, her voice faltering with shock.

Just then, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed from the living room.

A darling little girl, about four or five years old, clutching a teddy bear, approached the doorway barefoot.

She gazed at Yu Haoran, who looked as disheveled as a beggar, and asked with childlike sincerity, "Uncle, are you hungry? Should I ask Auntie to bring you some food?"

"Tuantuan, this is Daddy... Daddy's come back!" Ning Yulu turned, lifting Tuantuan into Yu Haoran's arms.

"Daddy?" Confusion clouded Tuantuan's eyes.

At the sound of her voice, Yu Haoran's mind reeled as if struck by lightning.

He was utterly dumbfounded.

Here was his beloved daughter, whom he had longed for, now walking and talking.

Yu Haoran, who hadn't cried in three hundred years, felt his eyes well up uncontrollably.